WA Trip 3: Boat Tour

Kevin and I wanted to get the boys on a boat since we were so close to a harbor and to Puget Sound.  I found a boat tour that went through the harbor and out under the Tacoma Narrows Bridges that sounded like just what we wanted.  We convinced Kevin’s parents and two sisters to join us.

Our tour guide seemed to know what he was talking about and shared a lot of fun facts about the area with us.

See how interested Kevin and the boys were in Mr. Tour Guide?

Ricky started out looking forward to the boat ride, but he was scolded early on for misbehaving and that soured the experience for him.  But, we did catch at least one smile.

It started out warm enough, but it quickly became cool and we needed our jackets.  In all my packing, I’d grabbed jackets for everyone but myself.  Thankfully, Grandpa Brent had an extra for me.

I like lighthouses.  They aren’t something we have at home, so I wanted to make sure to see the one in Gig Harbor.  Aunt Sheri didn’t think it quite compared to Thomas Kinkade lighthouses, but, no matter how tiny, it was still, technically, a lighthouse.  We made a big deal about it to the boys.

Aunt Wendi and Aunt Sheri had fun … see, they are smiling!

Tommy liked the adventure of trying to walk around the boat.  He was still just in his first week of walking, so it was wobbly enough without the rocking boat.

If he would have just sat on the floor, it would have been okay, but not this boy … he wanted to walk.  Rusty tried to show him that sitting can be cool, too.

For a minute, Tommy thought about letting someone else hold him, like Grandma Jeanne.  He quickly changed his mind.  Tommy was all about his Poppy this entire trip – Kevin could barely leave the room without Tommy having a meltdown.  Between being off his routine, over-tired, starting to come down with a cold, AND cutting two molars … we were lucky he was as pleasant as he was!

Billy was enjoying looking over the edge, but the motion of the boat started working on him.  Soon he was sitting like this …

And it wasn’t too much longer until he looked like this …

I really enjoyed hearing the stories about the Tacoma Narrows Bridges.  I think Ricky liked it too, but he was too busy looking cranky to show it.

[warning: mini-history lesson] The bridge to the left in this picture is built on the supports of the original suspension bridge built in 1940.  That bridge fell into the Sound just 4 months after being completed.  It was built much too narrow for its length and as soon as the deck was finished, it started moving with the winds.

The tour guide told us that people would come and pay the toll just to cross the bridge like it was an amusement park ride.  The bridge was dubbed “Galloping Gerty.”    It was just cool hearing about it … if you like history … which I do.

We got to see a few seals.  They stick their head up for air and just when you are about to take their picture, they dive back under the water.  Poor Billy missed seeing seal after seal.  This guy, however, just sat there with his head out of the water the entire time we passed him.

Even about-to-fall-asleep-Billy couldn’t miss this seal’s head.  (it’s that brownish, roundish thing in the water – in case you needed help)

Another interesting sight to see was this little community …

It is a few dozen houses, right on the water, that are only accessible by boat or this really long, rickety looking stair case.

These are the kinds of places in which really cool books or movies or “Murder, She Wrote” shows are set.  (And, yes, I do know that “Murder, She Wrote” was set in Maine, not Washington.)

Rusty’s absolute favorite part of the boat tour was the train tunnel.  There was a set of tracks that ran just off the water’s edge for most of our journey. Every time a train passed (which was surprisingly frequent), Rusty would point it out to us.  Here he is making sure we see the tunnel.

It really was a great two-hour adventure.  The boys remember it (always a plus) and even Grandpa Brent couldn’t hold back his smile.